


Astrea

by Xombe



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, Dark, Heavy Angst, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25844212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xombe/pseuds/Xombe
Summary: After The Ark crashes to Earth, Lockdown happens upon a minicon medic who would be useful to him and his ship. He's going to make her listen to him, through any means possible.An adaption of an ongoing roleplay.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)





	Astrea

On a lonely stretch of highway in quite literally the middle of nowhere, where the locals would perform their midnight drunken escapades, a lone yellow and black motorcycle sped down the concrete paved road towards the setting sun. Light reflected off the vehicle's windshield into the eyes of anyone who happened to be driving the other way, hiding the fact that there was no driver on this bike. Set behind her windshield on the front of the vehicle was a small, red symbol easy to miss at first glance.

But as with all driverless cars, with this one there was more than meets the eye. This was not a haunted motorcycle. The truth was this was Pulse, a Cybertronian from the other side of the universe, and she had just scanned this vehicle to take its form. And she was out for a test drive.

It may have been almost a month since they first crashed into this organic planet, but this was Pulse's first time getting out and about. She was a medic, and the crash hadn't exactly been gentle. She'd spent the better part of that month hard at work with the rest of the medical team getting repairs to all the injured bots aboard The Ark. Her work wasn't quite done, but with the team's combined efforts they'd managed to repair over half The Ark's crew. With more free time they took shifts outside picking alt modes to blend in with the local inhabitants and just to get out and moving.

Pulse had been eager to explore the planet they'd landed on. From her brief sending offs with the other medics, she'd seen the flora and fauna and been enthralled. When her turn had finally come, she'd hastily agreed to stick to the marked highways known to not have much traffic and promptly taken off. Speeding down that highway now, it dawned on her how she had nearly forgotten how good it felt to race down a paved road in her vehicle mode. The wind buffeted against her sides, making a dull roar in her audio receptors.

Pulse's time on the open road was coming to an end, however.

It had been observed that when the sunset, the planet's natives would drink their equivalent of high-grade energon and go for drives along this particular stretch of highway. Pulse didn't fancy getting caught by them and having to pretend to be one of their Earth vehicles, a mech around her age had stayed out too late on his turn out and said they tried to drive him around. As much as Pulse enjoyed their nature, she hated the idea of an organic climbing onto her.

As this planet's sun dipped further below the horizon, Pulse made a wide turn, crossing the double yellow line and switching to the other side of the road. Turning on her internal navigation, she took off down the road back in the direction of The Ark. The air around her was quickly growing colder, and she switched off her internal fans. Marveling at how this planet could go from such extremes of high temperatures in the day to lows during the night, Pulse was lost in her own processor, distracted from the world around her.

Narrowing in on her destination, Pulse pushed the navigation aside. Instead she turned her attention to the sky, catching the brilliant colors as they shifted from bright oranges and pinks to darker purples and blues. For the first time in a long while, she let herself relax. The rapidly cooling air combined with beautiful surroundings created a peaceful feeling that washed through her systems.

Coasting along she let herself slow down and enjoy the moment, the buffeting of the wind no longer monopolizing her audio. As it faded out, a new sound was quickly taking over, a high pitched almost chirping sound similar to the avian species on this planet. Panic struck her as she realized this was no bird.

The round connected before she could react properly. Cybertronian ammo moves fast, most times you either see it coming and can move, or it takes you completely blindsided. Unfortunately, Pulse didn't hear it until the last second. The resulting blast sent her flying back, her previously peaceful world turning into pain and scorching heat of being shot. Switching to her bipedal mode while airborne, Pulse crashed into the ditch on the side of the road ungracefully. Pain erupted through her side and back when she tried to move.

Twisting her body to get a better look at herself, Pulse tried to push the blinding pain to the back of her processor as she assessed the damage. The round had connected with her upper side where the armor folded back as pseudo-wings, one now charred. Her side was scorched and had an open wound now leaking energon.

Venting heavily her optics locked on the mech rising from the other side of the road. Fear gripped her spark as he lumbered over, towering over the trembling femme. She flinched away from him as he reached down, trying to scramble away despite the pain. As his hook pierced her armor she yelled in pain, servos darting out and clasping around his hook arm to keep him from shaking her too badly. She could feel the hook sink into her, just barely scratching the protoform beneath.

A strangled scream forced its way from her vocalizer as he dragged her out of the ditch and onto the road. Pulse tightened her grip on his arm, refusing to let go for fear of being jostled and causing worse damage to herself. Due to her height, the backs of her peds just barely scraped the pavement, leaving behind marks and paint from her finish. Helm looking around wildly, she tried to see if anyone else was around. When there was not a soul in sight she looked back at the strange mech, staring up at him.

"I need you, don't even think about escaping me." The mech ground out. With his free servo, he tapped the side of his helm and a dropship came down to them, a column protruded from the bottom. This column opened up and it appeared to be a cell.

"Let go of me!" She yelled, kicking her peds at the backs of his legs. The wiggling sent pain running through her shoulder plates, which deterred her from trying again. "Get another minicon, I'm needed elsewhere!" Pulse tried to hold her legs in a tuck but the damaged cables in her side wouldn't allow that, and she let her peds fall to the ground with a gasp of pain.

Pulse looked up to see a dropship, one that was most likely part of a bigger transport. If this mech had a ship that was bad news for her, they could end up anywhere. Pulse considered shocking him and making a run for it, but with the damage to her side and the trail of energon she was leaving that wouldn't be a good idea. When the column at the bottom opened up to reveal a cell, she felt her spark go cold.

"No! Let me go, I'm not doing anything for you!" she shouted, digging her digits into his arm trying to force him to remove the hook. Pulse looked back up at his faceplates and a chill ran through her, the expression on his faceplates was one of pure rage. Stopping her attempt to destroy his arm cables she let herself hang limply, fearing provoking his aggression.

"What's a small bot like you doing on a planet with humans. All these species mixing with species is disgusting. All because of why? You couldn't get along with each other on Cybertron. You destroyed our home and now you wanna wreak havoc among other worlds." The mech paused and seemed to zero in on the Autobot insignia grafted into Pulse’s chassis. "It's a shame Megatron couldn't hunt all of you to extinction. That would've made my job twice as easy."

"We're not going to destroy this planet, that was the Decepticon's doing," she bit out, scowling at him, "you know that just as well as I do. They started this, we're just trying to keep everyone safe," pain ran through her again as she was jostled slightly.

The tall mech continued dragging Pulse to the dropship while talking. Behind her was a trail of leaking energon. "You Autobots are even worse than the Decepticons. If you had only surrendered on Cybertron, instead you drag this War out, spreading it to more planets like a disease. It’s a hopeless cause, you’ve just made it last longer.”

"What about you, huh? You could have helped stop this you know, instead you're picking us off one by one and making things even worse!" Pulse accused, furious he blamed her faction for trying to help protect the rights of all Cybertronians.

"Why would I help you?” He seemed disgusted by the idea, “I wouldn't help either the Decepticons or Autobots. All you do is squabble like children and make a mess. Then I’m hired to clean it up.” Raising his hook up and hanging Pulse by her own shoulder. “Besides, helping the Autobots does nothing but prolong the inevitable. What would it take for your kind to be less naive?"

"Having hope isn't naïve," before she could continue her rant about doing the right thing, a jolt of pain shot through her arm from where the mech's hook was digging into her frame. Pulse dug her digits into his arm as she cried out, vaguely registering the feeling of her peds being lifted from the ground. As her vision cleared she found herself face to face with the strange mech. She kicked her legs at his chest, using her grip on his arm as leverage to swing her legs further.

"I'm going to name you.... Astrea."

"I already have a name," she bit out, her faceplates showcasing just how outraged she was feeling. There was no way the yellow femme would let him change her name. "It's Pulse, and there's no way you're going to rename me scrap!" Now that she was face to face with him, the yellow femme could see his seemingly constant stern expression sent, and a shiver ran down her strut.

"What kind of a name even is Astrea? It sounds stupid, I bet yours is stupid too." Pulse was trying to be brave in the face of absolute terror.

“My name is Lockdown. You'd best not forget it.” 

Lockdown, the infamous bounty hunter. Panic rose in Pulse and she ramped up her squirming, trying to kick him when suddenly he flung her. Pulse could feel the hook rip from her plating and she cringed at the feeling, but she didn't have long to dwell on it as she was soon crashing into the cell. Tumbling helm over peds, she came to a none too graceful-stop as she collided with the bars on the other side.

Groaning, Pulse let her vision stop swimming before she tried to move. Pushing herself up, she tried to use the bars of the cell to stand only to have her side tell her that was a very bad decision. Nearly collapsing from the pain, she put a shaking servo over the leaking wound and used the other to hold herself up. Slumping to the floor, she looked up at the mech standing outside of the cell.

"So Astrea,-”

"My name is Pulse," the femme insisted, not bothering to hide her scowl. She had no intention of sticking around, as soon as she could she planned on making a run for it.

“Astrea,” he bit back with a hint of warning in his voice that shut her up. “You're going to learn things my way soon enough. I need you for my ship, you shall become one of my crew members. However, if you keep up the defiance then I will be forced to tear you up and sell your parts to the humans. This is not a threat... this is a warning."

For most of his speech, her pseudo wings were flared up in a display of aggression and rebellion, but the second he mentioned tearing her up, Pulse's pseudo-wings lowered in horror. She pressed herself against the bars trying to get as far away from the mech as possible and opened her internal comms to everyone in her radius, pinging for help and praying to Primus that somebody would hear her.

Pulse felt the shift of the cell as it began to move up, returning into the dropship. Fear gripped her as she pushed herself off the bars to the door to try and force it open.

"No, let me out!" She screamed, tugging on the bars desperately, "get me out of here, help! Someone help!" Pulse continued to scream as it raised into the ship, she pushed herself back away from the bars as the cell entered the ship fearing getting caught between it and losing a limb. Sitting in the center of the cell she looked at her surroundings, feeling a pit of dread in her spark.

When the mech got onto the ship Pulse moved to the opposite side of the cell he stood from, terrified to be too close to him. She watched closely as he sat at the controls and powered the ship up, the whirring of the engines filling the air. They took off quickly, and Pulse could only hold herself as she knew the distance between herself and safety was growing ever-larger.

Their little trip through the air didn't take long, and she could feel the ship slowing down. Peering through the bars and through the front of the dropship, she could see the absolutely massive ship looming ahead. She knew this one came from a larger ship, but had never expected something of this size. The mech docked the dropship with a practiced move, this clearly belonged to him.

“Don’t try anything a glitch head would,” Lockdown growled at her as he pressed a button on the control panel and her cell started lowering through the bottom of the ship again. stepped out of the dropship. Several crew members of Lockdown’s were patrolling the hangar, weapons at the ready. As the cage stopped moving she could see Lockdown stepping down from the dropship and signaling two closer.

The container opens up and two crewmen near Lockdown go to pick her up. Pulse struggles with them for a moment, but they lift her by each wrapping her arm around their necks. As they threw her arms over their shoulder Pulse shouted in pain, whimpering as she looked down at her legs dangling above the ground. She was only thirteen feet tall, so she could do nothing but hang as the two eighteen-foot mechs carried her through the halls behind Lockdown.

Lockdown marched down the corridors in front of Pulse and the two crew members, his pedes clanking against the metal floor creating echoes throughout the ship. Pulse focused on the sound instead of the painful strain in her injured shoulder and along her side created by her hanging position.

They stopped in front of a door with a large black plus painted over it. A mechanical whirr sounded through the hallway as the entrance slid open, revealing the inside of a makeshift medical center.

Pulse looked around confused as the mechs carrying her stepped inside. She had been expecting to end up in another cell, not the medical wing. Lockdown turned around to face her and she looked up into his face with a hardened stare, trying to telepathically tell him just how much she hated him.

"Time to fix you," those words did not bode well for her.

"I don't trust you to repair me." Pulse’s response was even and didn’t give any room for argument.

“Well unfortunately for you my dear Astrea, you don't have a choice. You were resisting quite a bit back there." Lockdown seemed to revel in the discomfort he gave Pulse by calling her Astrea, it sent a shiver down her backstrut every time.

Affectionate words did not sound good coming from this mech's vocalizer, they only seemed cruel and demeaning, which sent a repulsive feeling blasting through her systems. He seemed to be treating her like some pet or misbehaving sparkling which Pulse was strictly against.

The two bots carrying her lurched forwards and a fight flared up in Pulse. She started kicking her legs and trying to yank her arms loose from the mechs, ignoring the flashes of pain from her shoulder and where the round had hit her. She managed to get a good kick on one before they forced her onto the berth and trapped her servo in the cuffs attached to it, never a good thing to have.

Try as she might to flail and not let them grab her other limbs, they soon had forced her peds into cuffs as well with only her servo being free. Taking a chance she struck out at the nearest bot, hitting him in the face with a solid smack. Pulse felt a rush and a momentary victory that was son null as her other servo was restrained and strapped to the berth. Pulse wiggled, testing the strength of the restrains and was distressed when she found they were kept in good condition.

Now that she was trapped and outnumbered by mechs who towered over her, the terror set in. Pulse started pulling at the restraints with total abandon. She could hear the sound of the door sliding open again and turned her helm to get a better look, optics landing on what looked like an empty shell of a bot.

"You are completely at the mercy of me, your life rests in my patience. So do try not to shorten it." Lockdown ignored the medic bot as it entered the room. He had a hunch, appearing shorter and with a typical mech build. The bot also had a seemingly empty faceplate, with no expression displayed on the soft metal.

"Careful with my Astrea, when she is hurt, I want there to be a clear reason for it." Lockdown’s voice echoed around the small medical wing.

Was that her future? Was she just going to become some mindless bot? Pulse flinched away from the bot as it approached her, carrying tools. To her, it was an emotional job as much as it was a physical one, she didn't trust this medic bot in the slightest.

The bot got to work regardless of her opinion of it, bringing a welder up to her torso and pulling the broken bits of metal together, welding them, and working on her repairs.

"I wonder how many more of you Autobots I'll get the pleasure of owning. I can tell you right now... Astrea you're not the first and you won't be the last." Lockdown smug smirk was going to be burned into Pulse’s processor, she was filled with the urge to wipe it off his faceplates.

"You," she winced as the bot clipped a particularly sensitive part of her armor, "you won't find any more of us. And you won't own me, I'm Pulse, and I'm an Autobot." she insisted, determined to resist him. She leveled him with her optics, hiding her fear behind a carefully constructed wall of anger and denial.

"I have no idea who Pulse is, must be a dead bot. Your name isn't Pulse, right? I'd have to tear you up piece by piece if you are. I sure wouldn't mind doing that, the humans could do a lot with Cybertronian steel, maybe even start hunting you cowards down themselves." 

The femme was glad she'd locked her hydraulics, knowing she would have flinched at the idea of being torn apart.

When the medic bot finally welded the last of her injuries closed, she unlocked her frame and let herself relax. That was done with, there was still a dull throb of pain but she knew that would fade now that there was no wound. The hole in her shoulder was fixed as well, and she experimentally moved it slowly to test if there was any lasting damage, which there luckily appeared to be none.

Movement caught her optic and she turned to see Lockdown swiftly approaching her. Pulse drew back as much as she could, trying to move her helm away as he reached out for her. His servo grabbed her jaw, tugging her face closer to his and seemed to examine her.

"Are all Autobots this easy?" he muttered to himself, seeming to ignore Pulse. "One last question..... what's your name?"

Twisting her helm quickly she bit his digit, hard. Pulling her helm back from his grip she looked up at him defiantly.

"My name is Pulse.”

She could feel Lockdown yanked his finger away from her intake, Pulse lifted her chin with a victorious expression on her faceplates. She was feeling pretty good about herself, anything that was an inconvenience to him was a win in her books.

"Wrong answer" Lockdown shook his right hand and glared at Pulse with a clear frown. "Your name is Astrea, but not just Astrea. You are my Astrea." Lockdown loomed over her with a threatening aura.

Pulse was just about to snark back to the mech when his fist flew into her jaw. She could feel something snap, but it was overcome by the pain in her glossa and denta. Opening her mouth to cry out and let the energon coming from a rupture in her glossa out, she felt a stabbing pain shoot through her jaw. There was a stiff soreness to it, that, combined with how difficult it was to move her lower jaw told her it was most likely dislocated.

"You are not Pulse,"

Given no time to recover, Pulse looked up at the mech with fear only to see a fist rapidly approaching her face. Offlining her optics and trying to move her helm away, she felt the pain of contact, and then another pain as the glass in her optic shattered. Choking out a strangled yell, she onlined her optics to see a web across the vision in her left one.

"Astrea is a good bot that doesn't want to be hurt, but Pulse is a stupid one that enjoys pain."

The mech was pacing in front of her. The yellow femme tried to press herself back into the medical berth, trying to get as far away from him as the restraints would allow. Faint whimpers of pain came from her vocalizer as a dull pain throbbed in her jaw. She needed to get it to reset, but there was no way she could move, and she doubted her captor would be inclined to allow her.

As his fist barreled towards her again the femme's whole body convulsed in an attempt to tear out of the restraints and avoid his fist all at the same time. When the clenched servo instead stopped in front of her, she let out a choked sound of relief.

Then his ped connected with her side and she screamed, squirming and feeling the way her armor had bent, creating an uncomfortable feeling. She didn't have much time to focus on it as he walked away and she twisted her helm to watch.

"My dear Astrea, I don't want to do this. However, your arrogance leaves me no choice."

Pulse The femme could barely see as the wall began switching around to reveal all sorts of equipment, and none of it looked good. She could feel herself trembling against the berth as the mech observed the tools, taking his time before selecting something she couldn't see. The yellow bot turned her head away to stare at the ceiling and try to distract herself, still shaking in fear.

His pedsteps resounded throughout the room as he made his way back to her side, and with each one she felt herself flinch involuntarily. His figure loomed in her vision, towering over her and casting a shadow over her mind. The femme tilted her helm away as he reached forwards, the knife crossing in front of her vision.

"I'm going to show you why your name is Astrea"

"'m sorry," she stumbled over her words as a dull pain flared up in her jaw every time she tried to move it, "'m sorry!" The femme flinched as the sharp weapon was dragged across her face, trying to stay as still as possible. Her panic levels were starting to rise as she found it difficult to speak with a dislocated jaw, and there was an immediate threat above her.

He jammed the blade into her undamaged optic, something inside becoming disconnected and a terrifying scream ripped itself from her vocalizer. The inherent  _ wrongness _ , having something stick out of your optic was only enhanced by her struggle as she could feel it moving around slightly, sending stinging pain racing through her processor every time she moved. It was, no pun intended, blinding.

"Now are you my Astrea or Pulse?"

As she became accustomed to the pain, the femme registered Lockdown was demanding her name once again. Somewhere during her unending torrent of pain, her vocalizer had popped. Resetting it she took a moment to let everything settle before speaking.

"Astrea..."   


The pain throbbed through her optic, blooming around her faceplates and enhanced by the pain in her other optic and jaw. Every little movement whether intentional or not was sending waves crashing through her processor telling her just how wrong it was to feel the object sticking out of her optic, how her jaw shouldn't be out of alignment, and how her left optic was shattered. Every slight tumor of the dagger, every time it didn't move as fast as her helm, even more pain would be sent shooting through her socket.

Through the broken glass of her left optic, the femme could see the Lockdown’s vicious smirk, his optics seeming to light up at the name. A disgusted tremble overtook her frame accompanied by another wave of pain from moving. She didn't dare speak up, terrified of what he would do to her if she spoke out again.

"Yes.... and don't you forget it." 

The tiny femme flinched away from his servo as it came closer, once again grasping her chin. She went limp and let him move her helm from side to side, occasionally whimpering in pain from the feeling of him leading her movements through her dislocated jaw. She could feel her warm liquid dripping down her face, and even though she couldn't see the purple color, she knew it was her own energon.

"I'm starting to take a liking towards my Astrea, I never knew how submissive you could get."

Pulse had never felt more shameful and humiliated in her whole life. She offlined her functioning optic to avoid looking at his faceplates, any way to hide from his scorching gaze.

There was a sudden tug at the dagger wedged into her optic socket, pulling the blade free and eliciting a sharp cry from the femme. Hearing him set the blade on the counter beside her berth, she onlined her optics and looked around. Training her gaze on the two guards she mentally assessed their height and strength, then switched over to the medic bot, a silent plea for help on her faceplates.

How someone who practiced medicine could just stand and watch while this went down, she couldn't understand. Pulse looked away from the medic bot when she saw the mech move out of the corner of her vision, watching closely.

As he backed away Pulse felt relieved. She relaxed her frame, giving herself a moment's break to run internal diagnostics. It didn't come back too good with the damage, but she wasn't going to die.

"Take this new pet of mine to the brig, I may want to play with her later. Maybe even turn that medic bot in the corner to scrap, soon he'll be replaced." With that last sentence being said, Lockdown promptly left the room. His words caught her attention and she tilted her helm to look at him. A pet, that's what she was to him. Another stab at her pride that was slowly crumbling with each insult.

The medic bot, he intended to scrap it. Pulse looked over to the mech watching closely to see his reaction, he had to be against that, had to react in *some* way. She was dismayed to see him not react until her tormentor left the room. Curiously, instead of trying to run or save himself, he was messing with a control panel in the wall, and as he hit the last one she could hear the faint click of multiple locks being undone.

Pulse's attention was drawn to the two bots advancing on her, a ripple of fear running down her back strut as the two moved towards her menacingly. Flinching away she tugged at the restrains expecting to be held down, instead, her servo came flying out. The shock was clear on her faceplates, and without wasting another moment she tugged her other limbs free.

Tumbling out of the berth and to the other side of it, she faced off with the two guards. Snatching the dagger off the side she pointed it at the two as she backed away, functioning optic moving quickly as she looked around the room to assess how she could escape.

Making a mental path she jumped into action. Vaulting herself over the bed she stabbed the dagger into the mech on the right's chassis, giving him a good shove as she turned on his twin. Pulse's servos sparked as she reached out, grabbing onto him and using her outlier ability to electrocute him. Stepping back from the steaming body she turned and ran to the medical door, pausing just at the front to look at the medic bot and asses if he would snitch on her, or if she should take him with her.


End file.
